M2M (machine to machine) communications today are deployed in several remote monitoring applications involving processes and systems. Remote monitoring has grown rapidly as communication costs have decreased with the expansion of cellular network.
Remote monitoring systems are easy to configure since there are no wires and can come on-line quickly. With zero human intervention, remote monitoring has enhanced the accuracy and the efficiency of reports with the added benefit of 24/7 round the clock, 365 days in a year non-stop operation.
Rapid proliferation of such systems has necessitated an architecture that can scale, can be managed, is cost effective and requires low capital investment. Such a system can be achieved via Cloud computing services provided by several ISPs (Internet Service Providers). The Cloud provides a pay-as-you-go strategy for both processing and storage requirements. One such example is Amazon's ECC (Elastic Cloud Computing) platform and the S3 (Simple Storage Solution) for storage. Host Servers may also provide the functionality to house a monitoring system, albeit the scalability of such servers is limited.
One such remote monitoring system is a telematics monitoring system. Telematics Service Providers provide comprehensive monitoring with their hardware solution to customers using web applications and user portals. Typically, the Telematics Service Providers design web applications around Windows “.NET” using MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes), with the web applications being hosted at a data center.